Non-Breeding Eusocial Mole-Rats Produce Viable Sperm—Spermiogram and Functional Testicular Morphology of Fukomys anselli

Ansell’s mole-rats (Fukomys anselli) are subterranean rodents living in families composed of about 20 members with a single breeding pair and their non-breeding offspring. Most of them remain with their parents for their lifetime and help to maintain and defend the natal burrow system, forage, and c...

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Main Authors:	Garcia Montero, Angelica, Vole, Christiane, Burda, Hynek, Malkemper, Erich Pascal, Holtze, Susanne, Morhart, Michaela, Saragusty, Joseph, Hildebrandt, Thomas B., Begall, Sabine
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Public Library of Science 2016
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4774953/

id	pubmed-4774953
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-47749532016-03-10 Non-Breeding Eusocial Mole-Rats Produce Viable Sperm—Spermiogram and Functional Testicular Morphology of Fukomys anselli Garcia Montero, Angelica Vole, Christiane Burda, Hynek Malkemper, Erich Pascal Holtze, Susanne Morhart, Michaela Saragusty, Joseph Hildebrandt, Thomas B. Begall, Sabine Research Article Ansell’s mole-rats (Fukomys anselli) are subterranean rodents living in families composed of about 20 members with a single breeding pair and their non-breeding offspring. Most of them remain with their parents for their lifetime and help to maintain and defend the natal burrow system, forage, and care for younger siblings. Since incest avoidance is based on individual recognition (and not on social suppression) we expect that non-breeders produce viable sperm spontaneously. We compared the sperm of breeding and non-breeding males, obtained by electroejaculation and found no significant differences in sperm parameters between both groups. Here, we used electroejaculation to obtain semen for the first time in a subterranean mammal. Spermiogram analysis revealed no significant differences in sperm parameters between breeders and non-breeders. We found significantly larger testes (measured on autopsies and on living animals per ultrasonography) of breeders compared to non-breeders (with body mass having a significant effect). There were no marked histological differences between breeding and non-breeding males, and the relative area occupied by Leydig cells and seminiferous tubules on histological sections, respectively, was not significantly different between both groups. The seminiferous epithelium and to a lesser degree the interstitial testicular tissue are characterized by lesions (vacuolar degenerations), however, this feature does not hinder fertilization even in advanced stages of life. The continuous production of viable sperm also in sexually abstinent non-breeders might be best understood in light of the mating and social system of Fukomys anselli, and the potential to found a new family following an unpredictable and rare encounter with an unfamiliar female (“provoked or induced dispersal”). Apparently, the non-breeders do not reproduce because they do not copulate but not because they would be physiologically infertile. The significantly increased testes volume of breeding males (compared to non-breeders) is in agreement with previously found higher testosterone levels of breeders. Public Library of Science 2016-03-02 /pmc/articles/PMC4774953/ /pubmed/26934488 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0150112 Text en © 2016 Garcia Montero et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Garcia Montero, Angelica Vole, Christiane Burda, Hynek Malkemper, Erich Pascal Holtze, Susanne Morhart, Michaela Saragusty, Joseph Hildebrandt, Thomas B. Begall, Sabine
spellingShingle	Garcia Montero, Angelica Vole, Christiane Burda, Hynek Malkemper, Erich Pascal Holtze, Susanne Morhart, Michaela Saragusty, Joseph Hildebrandt, Thomas B. Begall, Sabine Non-Breeding Eusocial Mole-Rats Produce Viable Sperm—Spermiogram and Functional Testicular Morphology of Fukomys anselli
author_facet	Garcia Montero, Angelica Vole, Christiane Burda, Hynek Malkemper, Erich Pascal Holtze, Susanne Morhart, Michaela Saragusty, Joseph Hildebrandt, Thomas B. Begall, Sabine
author_sort	Garcia Montero, Angelica
title	Non-Breeding Eusocial Mole-Rats Produce Viable Sperm—Spermiogram and Functional Testicular Morphology of Fukomys anselli
title_short	Non-Breeding Eusocial Mole-Rats Produce Viable Sperm—Spermiogram and Functional Testicular Morphology of Fukomys anselli
title_full	Non-Breeding Eusocial Mole-Rats Produce Viable Sperm—Spermiogram and Functional Testicular Morphology of Fukomys anselli
title_fullStr	Non-Breeding Eusocial Mole-Rats Produce Viable Sperm—Spermiogram and Functional Testicular Morphology of Fukomys anselli
title_full_unstemmed	Non-Breeding Eusocial Mole-Rats Produce Viable Sperm—Spermiogram and Functional Testicular Morphology of Fukomys anselli
title_sort	non-breeding eusocial mole-rats produce viable sperm—spermiogram and functional testicular morphology of fukomys anselli
description	Ansell’s mole-rats (Fukomys anselli) are subterranean rodents living in families composed of about 20 members with a single breeding pair and their non-breeding offspring. Most of them remain with their parents for their lifetime and help to maintain and defend the natal burrow system, forage, and care for younger siblings. Since incest avoidance is based on individual recognition (and not on social suppression) we expect that non-breeders produce viable sperm spontaneously. We compared the sperm of breeding and non-breeding males, obtained by electroejaculation and found no significant differences in sperm parameters between both groups. Here, we used electroejaculation to obtain semen for the first time in a subterranean mammal. Spermiogram analysis revealed no significant differences in sperm parameters between breeders and non-breeders. We found significantly larger testes (measured on autopsies and on living animals per ultrasonography) of breeders compared to non-breeders (with body mass having a significant effect). There were no marked histological differences between breeding and non-breeding males, and the relative area occupied by Leydig cells and seminiferous tubules on histological sections, respectively, was not significantly different between both groups. The seminiferous epithelium and to a lesser degree the interstitial testicular tissue are characterized by lesions (vacuolar degenerations), however, this feature does not hinder fertilization even in advanced stages of life. The continuous production of viable sperm also in sexually abstinent non-breeders might be best understood in light of the mating and social system of Fukomys anselli, and the potential to found a new family following an unpredictable and rare encounter with an unfamiliar female (“provoked or induced dispersal”). Apparently, the non-breeders do not reproduce because they do not copulate but not because they would be physiologically infertile. The significantly increased testes volume of breeding males (compared to non-breeders) is in agreement with previously found higher testosterone levels of breeders.
publisher	Public Library of Science
publishDate	2016
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4774953/
_version_	1613546336150355968

Non-Breeding Eusocial Mole-Rats Produce Viable Sperm—Spermiogram and Functional Testicular Morphology of Fukomys anselli

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